


Before it Even Began

by ChokolatteJedi



Category: White Collar
Genre: Bingo, Community: hc_bingo, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s01e01 Pilot, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-27
Updated: 2015-09-27
Packaged: 2018-04-23 13:40:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4878955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/ChokolatteJedi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Neal's back in prison. The thought is unbearable.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Before it Even Began

**Author's Note:**

> For my H/C Bingo 'Suicide Attempt' square.

Neal spent hours staring at that single mark on the wall. It was a condemnation - proof of his failure. Failure to catch Kate in time. Failure to escape completely. Failure to convince Burke.

He had barely made it through prison the first time: regular visits from Kate and his carefully ordered hash marks counting down the days to freedom were the only things that had kept him sane. And now he had neither of them.

Neal stared at the single mark on the wall, watching as it seemed to grow and engulf the wall, the cell, him. It was pitch black, an oozing morass, dragging him down for four more years. Neal sat up; he couldn't take that. He couldn't stand it. He would die in here if he had to stay for four more years. He had to come up with a new plan. Neal began to pace.

His feet scraped on something and Neal looked down. In the half-light that passed for night on the cellblock it was hard to tell what he was looking at. Finally, Neal picked it up.

It was a shard of glass, curved and slightly bumpy on one side. From the depths of the choking black mire Neal finally placed it as a piece of the light bulb he had smashed earlier.

He sank back down onto his cot, the shard clenched tightly in his hand. Kate was gone. His freedom was gone. The only thing Neal had left was this cell and one shard of contraband glass.

Finally, _finally_ , the blackness suffocating him gave way to light.

oOo

Peter walked into the White Collar Offices the morning after his meeting with Caffrey ready to fight for Neal. El was right; after thinking it over all night, Peter could understand why Caffrey would pull a stunt like the one he had. If it were El...

Now, all he had to do was convince Hughes, the Marshals, a Judge, the Warden, and the ADA working the prison break paperwork. Piece of cake.

To his surprise, as soon as Hughes saw him, Peter was on the receiving end of the double finger beckon. Inside his boss's office, Peter found the ADA and one of the Marshals he had worked with last week to catch Caffrey. How could they have known already? Did Neal say something to a guard? As Peter's mind spun to figure out this new puzzle, he barely noted the deeper than usual frown on Hughes' face.

"What's up?" He asked.

"Peter, its about Caffrey..." Hughes began.

"Yeah, I guessed that," Peter gestured at the ADA and Marshal, the obvious tip-offs. "Is this about our meeting yesterday? Jeeze, the guy works fast, even from prison."

"So you admit that you met with Caffrey yesterday?" The ADA asked.

"Of course."

"Can you tell us the nature of your conversation?" The man continued seriously.

Peter began to put the clues together: the serious expressions, the odd word choices... "What aren't you telling me? What happened to Caffrey?"

"Peter..." Hughes began again.

Peter knew that tone of voice. He glanced at the files on the desk, saw the corner of a photo peeking out, blood obvious even from his angle.

"Caffrey's dead."

And just like that, the partnership that Peter had been imagining all night came to an end before it even began.

**Author's Note:**

> Not the traditional meaning of comfort for Neal, but a form of it.


End file.
